RWBYlands: The Huntsmen Collection
by JAloysiusBarnesley
Summary: A different kind of story set in the RWBY universe with heavy references to Borderlands and other works. Features OCs and Expies of your favorite RWBY characters. Follows a Team of Huntsmen from Vacuo that eerily mirror Team JNPR. Takes place roughly 4 years before RWBY Vol. 1. Rated M for violence and stuff.
1. Chapter 1

RWBYlands: The Huntsmen Collection

_A RWBY/Borderlands Fanfic by J. Aloysius Barnesley_

Author's Note: This was actually written well before _The Ballad of Pyrrha Nikos and Handsome Jaune_. It's a RWBY Universe Action-packed/Adventure/Humor fic again. Contains mostly OCs and expies of Jaune and Pyrrha. Takes place roughly 4 years before RWBY Vol 1 and is considered an Established Universe work. Some of the characters will crossover into the _Ballad_ as this was the original. It has been edited for readability.

*Italics not in quotations are _Thoughts_ by characters.

(Anything in brackets is Author's notes, Pay attention!)

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Chapter 1

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**Vacuo, Town of Sanctus, Docks. 3 days ago.**

Athena Xiphos had just arrived in Vacuo. The girl stood tall, nearly 6ft tall in heels. She had gold pauldrons adorning each arm, a gold cuirass, gold vambraces and crimson gloves. Her boots were similarly in gold, which ended halfway up her thighs, a plated crimson skirt hung around her waist.

There wasn't any flesh showing, not like the comic books portrayed Huntresses, this woman was smarter than to wear skimpy armor for the onlookers; instead, a thin yet lightweight crimson mail covered everything beneath her armor. (Imagine Pyrrha mixed with Athena from BLTPS) Her purplish-maroon hair was done up in a triple-twisted braid, adorned with a silver laurel; a circlet that outlined her brow in elegance. Her sashes, ivory white in color hung from her waist and from her shoulders covering her cuirass and throat, the pure white color gave her dark emerald eyes and crimson armor something to contrast. Her face was angular and strong, she had high cheekbones, a slightly upturned nose, and a pointed chin. Her face was turned into a perpetual scowl some would call a 'Resting Bitch Face', but that was just her genetics unfortunately; she was actually quite happy and nothing could break her determination.

Athena had left her hometown of Argus to come to Vacuo. She had won over six times in a row at Sanctum Academy's Fighter's Tournaments, she had a sponsorship with Captain Fluff's Blueberry Delight cereal, she had everything except an actual challenge. Which was why she decided to enroll at Shade Academy in Vacuo. Vacuo was the toughest and most unforgiving kingdom in the world. Athena had given up the easy life at Haven for this. No matter how much Headmaster Lionheart pleaded, she'd decided she wanted this. Bandits, Thieves, an unforgiving atmosphere. Maybe somewhere there would be an actual challenge to her skill.

Her skill was: Telekinesis. Athena could manipulate pretty much anything with her Semblance. Metal, Wood, Stone... It didn't matter, she had control over the physics of it all. And she used her skill in this to manipulate her sword and her shield. Caerus and Pythia, the two legendary weapons she wielded. Caerus, a sword that turned into a scatter gun and Pythia the shield... which also had a hidden feature. She could engage Pythia's second form whenever she wished, turning the simple Aspis into a circular saw-blade ready to cut whatever stood in her way. And nothing ever stood in the way of her and her Semblance.

Athena looked around. Sanctus was a simple town, circular in design, a center garden which was mostly empty. A dock for boats and ships,a Hunter's Lodge, a small garage, a weapons shop and a doctor. (It looks like a coastal version of Sanctuary from Borderlands 2) She shook her head. Was this all that Vacuo had to offer? A coastal town with nothing more to offer than a street vendor in Argus? She headed towards the nearest road out of town. Maybe the wilderness held something more worthwhile...

**Atlas, a small town not on maps... 2 weeks ago...**

Jack Trevali had lived most of his life here in Tantalus, a small town west of the capital and military academy. He had dirty blond hair, fair skin and a very attractive and handsome face; he had high cheekbones and a wide chiseled jawline, his eyes shone out in azure blue. (Jack looks like Handsome Jack and Jaune Arc had a lovechild.) Jack wore a traditional Atlesian Battle Coat, it was brown and had a nice fur lined collar to protect from the cold. It was also armored slightly with a few metal plates integrated into the lining of the shoulders and chest areas. Jack's pants were unassuming, they were just a worn pair of jeans.

Jack's family had owned one of the largest weapons manufacturing companies on the planet until the Great War and Faunus Revolution had driven them out of business. Trevali weapons had been used extensively during the Wars, but afterwards during the depression, they had run out of funding. As times got harder, both his parents became Huntsmen and disappeared. Jack was alone in the once pristine family estate. Jack worked as an information technology specialist at Atlas' CCT tower, a simple career, and had a cybernetic neural data processor installed in his skull; it made downloading and memorizing all the various tasks a lot easier. Jack wasn't a Huntsman, and he loathed the military academy. He dreamed of one day using his grandfather's Great War weapons though, the Hyperion; a set of custom gauntlets that used then-new technology... Rail-guns. The Hyperion Gauntlets also concealed a 3ft long set of blades attached to a servo which could spin and rotate them, allowing the user to cut and slice with ease.

Daydreaming aside, Jack noticed from his view over the town, that there was smoke rising above the trees. From the direction of his home. And then the Scroll calls started pouring in. Jack leapt from his desk, abandoning his work and started running for the exit. He had to get home fast, all the calls were the same. _Bandits._

**Vacuo, the road south, 3 hours ago.**

Athena thought to herself, maybe she should've rented the car from that travel station near the town. It had looked a little ramshackle, but it probably would have made her trip to Shade a lot faster. She had been walking for a few days and her feet were sore. The trip was largely uneventful aside from a few basic Grimm attacks, a beowolf, a few creeps, nothing exciting or challenging. Vacuo was supposed to be the toughest continent in the world, but then again she hadn't reached the desert yet, she was still traveling through one of the few verdant sections and it would probably be a few days before she even reached the wasteland.

Athena noticed a neon sign in the distance and decided to head for that. The sign itself advertised a small gas station/ rest stop called the Happy Pig. Whatever, maybe they had a chair or a bed or something. Walking sucked.

**Atlas, Road to Tantalus, 2 weeks ago.**

Jack spurred his moped faster and faster. He'd even given it a stupid name Butt-stallion. The ivory colored bike whined in protest, but kept accelerating down the road. Jack was worried, _Bandits_, if they'd found his little sister, things could get ugly. Jack had a lot of Aura, but unfortunately never unlocked his semblance, but his little sister, Angel, did. And she couldn't control her Semblance; she could temporarily transform into a Grimm and use its abilities, but she couldn't control when or what she transformed into. The 12 year old girl was a danger to herself and others that weren't aware. Jack had told her never to leave their estate, lest someone or something see her transformed visage and panic. _Don't cause a panic_.

Perhaps Jack's thoughts had attracted some actual Grimm as well. Jack thundered down the road towards the estate and a Beowolf suddenly jumped in front of him. Too late for evasive maneuvers, he struck it at full speed and was promptly thrown from the bike towards the front door to his own house. At 40mph. _Oh shi-_

Jack didn't know how long he'd been out, but waking up having crashed through the front door of your own house was not pleasant. The motorcycle helmet protected his head, but he was bruised and beaten from the neck down. Worse, the house was wrecked. It looked like a firefight had erupted in the foyer, claw marks and blood splatter scored the walls. _Angel!_ Jack ran towards his sister's room, he really didn't want to see what he was thinking about right now. (Angel looks like Ruby Rose mixed with Angel from Borderlands 2)

"Angel? Are you okay?" Jack said, walking slowly towards the door to his sister's room. The door was ajar, hanging loosely from its hinges. He pushed open the door and saw what nobody ever should. Angel was dead. She was nearly bisected by a line of gunfire, and she lay motionless in a pool of blood. She was half-transformed into a Beringel, claws bloody and dress torn. Her right hand clutched a swatch of material. And Jack broke down into loud sobs.

"Angel! No! Why! Why would you kill an innocent girl! You. Bastards! You child-killing savages!", Jack screamed to the empty house. Jack closed his little sister's still-open eyes and covered her body with the blanket from her bed. She needed a proper burial, but Jack didn't want to see her lifeless body anymore. Noticing the scrap of cloth in her hand, he pulled it from her cold fingers. It was a symbol, something he'd learned about in school. It was the crest for the Kingdom of Vacuo. _Bandits_. "I promise you Angel, I'm going to find these Bandits, I'm going to kill them all. I'm going to make them pay for all they've done.", Jack said, now in a pure rage. He grabbed Hyperion from the display case in the foyer and headed out. No more home, no more town, Tantalus is dead. Only pain and rage. Jack put the gauntlets on, they felt as if they were made for his hands. _Vengeance. Vacuo._ Jack left for the docks, Vacuo would burn and the Bandits would die. A grim sneer twisted his face.

**Vacuo, Woodlands. Present day.**

Athena had left the Happy Pig, it was a dumpy little convenience store. She bought a few energy bars and a tasteless fountain soda, but left as soon as she could. A lot of the patrons recognized her and asked for autographs, which she provided, and a lot of other patrons began to hit on her. Poorly. As a 17 year old girl, she felt it best to move quickly towards the door and road before the slimy 40-something year old weirdos got touchy feely.

Athena walked down the road, absent mindedly thinking about her future glory both at Shade Academy and in this year's Vytal Festival Tournament. Even if she was a 1st year student, she would dominate, they'd build statues to her honor, she'd get a sponsorship with Schnee Dust Company, and she'd become the greatest Huntress the world has ever seen since the Grimm Reaper! She would become a goddess and she'd have a pedestal from which to view the peons who challenged her. She would look down and spit upon the lesser. Her thoughts were quickly broken by the sound of gunfire, Grimm noises and a lot of screaming.

"Hey! Anyone! I could use a little help over here!", the voice said. The gunshots were always followed by a shrill whistle for some reason. (Hyperion Moonshot Noise) Athena ran towards the distress call. _Somebody needs help! Time to be a hero!_

Athena ran to a clearing in the trees and was a little surprised by the scene unfolding before her. A man, close to her age with dirty blond hair was attempting to fight off 7 Beowolves by himself. His weapon-gauntlets firing a shot, and then recharging with a shrill whistle every time he attacked. He missed a lot, it was kinda sad. He appeared to be wearing an Atlas Battle Coat, despite it being nearly 75 degrees out, dirty blue jeans and some ridiculous hipster-esque shoes not meant for long term travel. She was flabbergasted. He was sorta handsome though, maybe he was another future student... _Enough thought, Time for action before the poor boy gets himself killed._

"Come taste my wrath!", Athena screamed as she catapulted into the air. She launched her shield towards the Beowolves, hitting them away from the boy, before pulling it back with her semblance. She hit a switch on her sword and switched it into shotgun mode, firing a few shots at the closest Grimm. She flipped the gun vertically, reloading it at the same time and fired again, killing more of the Grimm. Sword mode again, she landed and slashed diagonally in an 'X' shape, slicing two of the Grimm and killing them. Turning on her heel and deflecting the swipes of the lone Beowolf, she stabbed hard with her sword and killed the last Grimm. Blood-lust. Athena turned and posed briefly, on the defense if anything else dared attack, but there was nothing.

"Oh. My. God! You're invincible! Y-You're-", the boy tried to say, but was cut off.

"I know, _I'm Athena Xiphos and you're my biggest fan... I just saved you and you yada yada yada..._ I get it. Are you okay?", Athena said, slightly exasperated.

"Wait, who are you? Athena Zee-foes? Oh wait! I know you! You're the girl from the cereal boxes! I'm Jack.. uhh. Trevali! Thanks for saving me." He said.

"Wait, seriously? You don't know who I am? Really!?", Athena quipped back, slightly annoyed.

"Uhh, you're on every box of Captain Fluff's cereal? And you can fight and stuff? I'm from a small town... We don't really get much information there... Sorry...", Jack said flustered by the sight of the girl in front of him.

Athena was slightly annoyed, yet relieved. He didn't know. He wasn't part of her weird fan-club. This was perfect, maybe she could finally make a true friend who didn't see her as a celebrity. But... He seemed a little stupid. But hey, nobody's perfect.

"So... What are you doing out here anyways? Why did you come and save me? You're famous!", Jack asked.

_I'm out here saving idiots like you. _"I'm on my way to Shade Academy. I'm going to be the greatest Huntress in the world. What are _you_ doing out here by yourself?", Athena retorted.

_I'm going to avenge my little sister. And I... Have forged transcripts... Maybe the same thing?_ "That's what I'm going to do too. We're both headed the same way, why don't we team up? Two people can definitely handle the Grimm... And it's safer too.", Jack said, hoping the girl would buy his lie.

_I highly doubt he's going to be a good Huntsman. _"That sounds great. Just, stay behind my shield and we'll both get to Shade Academy without a hitch!", Athena said, faking enthusiasm. _This poor boy is going to die in the first 5 minutes. Dear god. Why. _But he was very attractive and he didn't know who she was, so who knows? Maybe he's a nice guy. Maybe he won't judge her for her reputation? _Maybe he's the one for you, Athena._ Bad thoughts... Not that, well maybe.

Athena and Jack headed off down the road together. They were still on the outskirts of the forests before the great sandy sea. It would still probably be a few days before they got to Shade Academy. Athena was still puzzled as to _why_ Jack was out here all alone. She was aware of his heritage, Sanctum Academy had taught her about the Great War and the contribution that the infamous Trevali Family had brought.. She also noticed that Jack was using the legendary Hyperion as his primary weapon, despite his apparent lack of knowledge about them. The blades, in particular, rather than their rail-guns, would be an appropriate choice against Grimm. Hyperion's Rail-guns were prototypes of their generation, powerful but painfully slow to recharge after firing and the loud whistling of the cooling unit could be heard for miles. They were accurate though, firing straight and at terminal velocities. There was a clear reason why Trevali Arms weaponry had been the most dangerous during the war after all.

Athena also noticed how under-prepared Jack was, dressed in a pair of dirty jeans and a brown battle coat designed for the colder Atlas temperatures, Jack would probably die of heat prostration five minutes into the boarding process at Shade Academy, which despite its name was entirely under the sun in the middle of a desert. She had zoned out momentarily, and had realized that Jack had been talking to her for some time now.

"...And that's why I'm going to Shade. I want a challenge too and it feels like the best match. I also... Have some business to settle with some filthy bandits... But that's a story for another day. So what's your story Athena?" Jack said.

"Oh, well... You know how I'm on all the Captain Fluff boxes? I'm sorta a star athlete. I've won the Sanctum Fighter's Tournament 6 times in a row, competing at an early age. Fighting and competition are in my blood and I _live_ for a challenge. Haven Academy is too... too boring, too safe, and run by an absolute '_chungus' _of a headmaster. Vacuo is a tough place and if you can survive out here, then you belong. Shade Academy is the best place for me.", Athena explained.

"Well, where are you from? We're going to be in this together for a while, better get to know each-other!", Jack stated, somewhat overly happy. Maybe he's been alone for too long and Athena is the only company he's had for a while. She didn't know, really. But she decided to humor him.

"I'm originally from Argus, it's the largest town outside of a kingdom. It's in the northern part of Mistral. Mantle and eventually Atlas helped settle and maintain the town. It's nice, really. My family fought in the Faunus Revolution and the Great War, they're all huntsmen and huntresses, so I decided to carry on their legacy. Uhh... I don't have any siblings, my parents were too busy to raise more than one kid... I have a sword and shield, Caerus and Pythia, my family passed them down through the ages. I _think_ they belonged to one of my ancestors. Caerus can turn into a shotgun and Pythia has a few fun features that play into my Semblance easily. So... What's your Semblance, Jack? I have telekinesis, I can move stuff with my mind, throw my sword and shield around and retrieve them...", Athena explained. She really wanted to know what exactly Jack had if he was going to Vacuo and Shade.

"Well. That's the problem. I've been _told_ I have an incredible Aura, like almost limitless. And my semblance is...", Jack really didn't want to seem like a loser around Athena, she was attractive and rather intimidating. And she was famous. Bad, bad, bad. So he made something up that was half-truth that maybe she would believe. "My Semblance is Void.",

_Void!? He can create a void? What._ "V-Void? I've never heard of that. What does it do exactly? It sounds very powerful.", she said back. If he could create a void, then he was possibly the most powerful huntsman alive, he could just use the void to suck his opponents into nothingness, trap them. Athena was slightly worried.

"Well, when I say void. I mean it's _void_. I don't have a semblance. Like, at all. It's kinda embarrassing...", Jack said sadly.

_Oh. _"Oh, well...", _This is beyond pathetic, he's going to die. Aura considered, maybe he won't._ "Well, it takes time and a lot of trial and error to unlock your semblance; I'm sure we can unlock it together if we try hard enough. Not everyone is gifted.", Athena said, trying not to boast too much, she had unlocked her semblance very early and had been using it constantly, even in daily life. It was like an extra set of arms to her and it was nearly effortless to use nowadays. She was disappointed, Jack had basically nothing but exceptional Aura and an old set of weapons. Athena almost facepalmed, but instead adjusted her circlet a bit. _This is going to suuuuuck_

Athena and Jack had reached another small outpost. Liarsburg. It was a small shantytown on the outskirts of the desert. It had a few notable landmarks, a bar, a pub, a lounge, another bar and a Hunter's Lodge which appeared to sell weapons and equipment. Jack, despite his pathetic appearance and lack of useful skills, had a lot of money. Perhaps due to his family, and paid for a set of rooms at the lodge for them for the night. He also bought Dust for both of their weapons and a nice dinner. Athena changed out of her armor for now, it was getting hotter out now that they were closer to the desert. She kept her armored gold bodice on and discarded her chain-mail and pauldrons revealing her shoulders. She discarded her skirt and greaves and switched to a pair of dark crimson form-fitting jeans. She also moved the sash around her neck and retied it around her waist, parallel to the other sash that hung there revealing a bit more of her cleavage in the process. Athena restyled her hair as well, the triple-twisted braid was getting annoying and she simply tied her long hair up into a simple long ponytail for the time being. (Athena now looks more like Pyrrha, minus the gorget around her neck and skirt and with a bodice that's a form-fitted gold plate that outlines her figure, it ties in the back with a long zipper. As in the leather strips are in the back rather than the front, since the front is a big armor plate.) She tucked her other armor components into her bag.

Jack, didn't change much of his outfit despite the heat. He did remove the battle coat, but he replaced it with brown armored vest, and wore a white dress shirt and dark gold t-shirt beneath it. He changed his pants and wore a nicer pair of dress pants. _I should've brought more than two pairs. Grrggmg_ He quickly laced up a pair of brown sneakers to match the vest. (Jack still looks like Handsome Jack, just minus the black jacket and mask obviously. A little less Elder Maxson too.)

Athena headed downstairs to the lodge section of the.. Lodge and met Jack. She took a seat across from him at the table.

"Hiya, handsome.", she said.

"Oh, hey! You look great! No armor? Aren't you worried about Grimm?", He said.

"No, the Grimm here aren't even that dangerous. I have more flexibility without the chain-mail anyways. Still gotta have the chest-plate though, all the important bits still have to be protected; wouldn't want a stray arrow or something to take me out.", she said. _And that would suck hard to be shot with an arrow with no chest protection. No neck protection is fine, I'm sure I'll see my opponent attempting to behead me anyways._

"Well, I bought us dinner. You can pick yours, I'm going to have a steak.", Jack said, averting his gaze from her chest.

"That's sweet Jack, I don't really know what to say.", she replied; it really was nice of him to buy dinner.

Athena was halfway into ordering her food when another group entered, they were obviously Shade students, probably 2nd year. They were loud.

"Argh, Grr! I'm Jacques! I get knocked out in the first 3 seconds! I'm the fattest dumbest man! ...Learn by doing!", the large one shouted mockingly. He was dressed in a Legionnaire's attire in flat black, a red and black plaid armored kilt hung by his waist. He had red eyes that shone out in fury and a suave blond hairstyle. He was handsome, with a wide jawline and squared head, but had an air of blood-lust to him. He looked absolutely furious.

"Rhames! It wasn't my fault! You aggro-ed them to us, Javelin was giving us instructions and you just shouted over him and said 'Learn by doing!' and then we got swamped!", the opposing man said. He was 8ft tall with a huge copper-colored beard. Small black glasses sat on his nose. The behemoth of a man wielded a huge spiked morning star; it must've weighed as much as a car. His armor was particularly ugly, a seemingly mix match of green and blues, an armored harness, a dented pauldron, some parts of greaves and an armored turquoise jerkin. It was a mess and was probably scavenged from bandits or parts of military vehicles.

"You lot have no idea what went down. Minstrel was supposed to be guarding me but he just ran off. The Grimm absolutely mullered us. Maybe if you two flodgers hadn't faffed about for 20 minutes, we would've gotten that bonus.", a much skinnier and smaller man said. He was a bird Faunus, rather than a nose and mouth, he had a prominent beak and squawked when he talked. He wielded a bright orange club (cricket bat) and wore an absolutely dreadful set of armor. He had a purple chest-plate, purple gauntlets, and a salmon-pink set of armored greaves. For some reason he also wore rainbow-colored tennis shoes.

"What. I saw a shot and I took it. I wasn't going to stand around arguing like a bunch of frakking fairies standing around a frakking harp. Frakking cupid frakking strumming, shooting arrows up people's arseholes and crap. We needed to take frakking action and I did it.", the last member said, he was unusually angry. He had brown hair which was disheveled and wore blue studded leather armor. Two different pistols hung from their holsters on his belt.

The four continued to bicker all the way up to the Lodge's bar.

"Ah, Team MRJJ (Mirage). I take it the hunt didn't go well?", the bartender asked.

"Of course it didn't! It was all because of YOUUU!", Rhames shouted, pointing to Minstrel.

"What, we killed the Grimm, so bounty finished? When do we get paid?", Minstrel asked, sounding tired.

"Awwk! It was fine! Aside from Jacques getting KO'd instantly, we won.", Javelin added.

"What the frakk is wrong with you guys!? I didn't know we were going until the last minute!", Jacques noted.

"Well, you succeeded, the Grimm will think twice before attacking. Here's your bounty!", the bartender said happily before placing the whopping 600 Lien on the bar. Which was enough for all of them to buy themselves absolutely nothing useful.

The four 'Huntsmen' left the Lodge, Rhames slamming the door as he left. Athena thought to herself, _What an odd bunch, how do they ever get anything done if all they do is argue with each-other?_ and continued her order of surf and turf, which Jack paid for.

The next day, Jack and Athena rented a 'buggy' from a shady man named 'Booter'. His cars had a failure rate of almost 75 percent, which was down by 25 percent from last year. Whatever, it beat walking all the way to Shade. And soon, they were on the way to their Destiny.

**Chapter End. Hope this was a little more readable than the monstrosity that it was. That's the prologue and meeting with Team MRJJ. Read the **_**Ballad of Pyrrha Nikos**_**, MRJJ is back again in that one.**


	2. Chapter 2

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Chapter 2

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**Shade Academy, Vacuo**

A rumbling sputtering 'buggy' and cloud of sooty diesel exhaust hailed Jack and Athena's arrival to the academy. The 'car' they'd rented a few days ago had broken down almost 7 times, requiring a lot of improvisation to get working again. They'd been attacked almost constantly by Grimm until they found a moldy taco in the glove box and promptly threw it out, ending the attacks.

"Well, we're here!", Jack announced, as if Athena couldn't already see the huge ziggurat in front of them. The small town surrounding the area was made of mostly sand colored buildings, small yurts, and some larger square structures with domes. (It looks like Mos Eisley.) Many younger people, presumably students, were heading up the road towards the largest building, the ziggurat. Jack and Athena followed them.

The school was bustling with future students unpacking and getting ready for their new life as Huntsmen in training. Team MRJJ stood in the center of the courtyard, striking various poses and talking with other 2nd going on 3rd year students. One set of new students stood out to Jack, the armor he wore reflected the sun like a polished mirror, blinding anyone looking at him. He was also very short. Jack decided to introduce himself.

"Hey, guy. That's some pretty shiny armor you've got there. I'm Jack, and you are?", he said.

"Och, lad. I be Khor Asan. I've been called the 'Unstoppable' for all I've known, it's only fitting I be a Huntsman.", Khor said, the small man wore a set of silver full plate armor with gold accents, silver glittering chain-mail covering everything the plates didn't. He wielded twin maces, which hung at his belt and wore a large scutum shield on his back, which was taller than he was. Khor wore a rounded bowl-like helmet with two thin vertical eye slits concealing his face completely. (Khor Asan is an obscure reference to Kore from Goblins-comic, he's a good guy in this story though.) A slightly taller girl next to him turned around to face Jack.

"Oh, hello. I'm Catherine Amber. Um. Pleased to meet you too, Jack. Um... Khor is my best friend and uhh...", the shy girl said. She was slightly taller than Khor, and wore a green cloth hunter's jerkin. Her pauldrons and vambraces made of a dark brown boiled leather. She had amber colored hair that was short, ending just below her ears and had stunning turquoise eyes. She also had freckles. An elegantly engraved revolver with a pearl grip hung from her belt. (Catherine is based somewhat on Linkle from LoZ and Max Caulfield from LiS with a little bit of TftBL Gortys thrown in.)

Jack was a little shaken, Catherine looked a lot like his late sister with a different hair color. She seemed a little awkward too, but that could've just been the current hectic chaos of the Academy.

"H-hey, nice to meet you Cat. Can I call you 'Cat'?", Jack mumbled.

"Oh yeah, sure. Almost nobody calls me Catherine, always just Cat.", she replied.

Athena noticed Jack's flustered introduction and walked over.

"Oh! Oh hey! Aren't you the girl from Mistral who's up and coming? I thought you were going to Beacon. Um... Pyrrha right?", Cat exclaimed.

"What? I don't know what that word means. _Pyrrha?_" Athena said, "I'm Athena Xiphos, star athlete of Sanctum Academy's Fighter's Tournament 6 times in a row, unofficial mascot of Captain Fluff's Blueberry Delight cereal, and future Huntress!" she said, proudly.

"Oh! You're the _other_ famous Mistral girl! I like your cereal, it's very tasty. Umm... _Pyrrha Nikos_ is another Mistrali warrior just like you! You even look similar! But, I guess you're better if you're here in Vacuo! Vacuo is a hard place.", Cat said innocently.

_Other famous Mistrali girl? I'm the one and only!_ "Yep, that's me. Nice to see a few fans around here.", Athena said, slightly annoyed and faking enthusiasm.

Athena looked around, there were still a lot of future students unpacking, she noticed a flustered bulldog Faunus vomiting into a nearby trashcan whilst frantically speaking on his scroll.

"Uhh yes. My name is Brendan Parmigiani. Is this the Shade Infirmary? I... might've accidentally drank about a gallon of... lube.", the Faunus said between retches.

_A gallon of lube!? Wouldn't you notice the... taste?_ Athena shuddered, averting her gaze. Maybe Jack wasn't the dumbest one here after all.

The rest of the new students began to file into the large ziggurat. Athena, Jack, Khor and Cat all followed the rest of them. It appeared the Headmaster was about to begin an announcement. Athena was particularly excited, Beacon, Haven and Atlas all had rigorous tests you had to pass in order to be accepted. An initiation ceremony as one would call it. She couldn't wait for whatever Shade had in store for her. She did hope Jack did well and managed to survive.

"Ah, new 1st year students! Welcome to Shade Academy!", the Headmaster announced. "Unlike all the other Academies with their complex and convoluted 'Initiation' trials, Shade and Vacuo only accept those who can survive the trip through the deadly wasteland. You have all arrived here, those who have failed are lost in the wastes. Thus, the first 3 people you have met during your journey here are now your new teammates for the next 4 years! Please submit your team names and find your dorms. The lobby attendant should've given you the instructions on how to do that! Good day, and happy hunting!", the Headmaster concluded.

Athena was now very annoyed, very sad and also very disappointed. It was Jack, her, Khor and Catherine. For the next 4 years. In a dorm. Together. There wasn't any ritual or trial of strength or any of that. It was very anticlimactic, but it did make a lot of sense. She looked at her new teammates and sighed long and sadly. _I guess it was meant to be, me and Jack forever and ever a thousand semesters together for the rest of time_.

"So. We're going to be Team J.A.C.K.! We can create a flag representing our colors or we can do a pumpkin or something. Team JACK! It's the only anagram that makes sense.", Jack stated.

"Why are _you_ the Team Leader?", Athena asked, eyeing her teammate.

"Well, I'm not. I guess you can be if you want, but Team AJCK or ACKJ sounds horrible. Like a noise you make when punched in the gut", Jack said

"Then I choose Team ATAK. It makes more sense than Team JACK, which is your name. Athena,Tre- Triallum, Amber, Khor. It makes sense and uses all our names.", Athena described. It did make a lot of sense. She had noticed Jack was also using a different surname on his school ID, weird.

"You can't have Team ATAK, that's already taken by Alabaster, Treyco, Alfredo, and Kindel.", the lobby attendant said.

"Wh-Why? Well, can we be Team AJCA or something? Our team name shouldn't also be the first name of one of our members!", Athena reasoned.

"Nope, sorry. Team JACK is your new team name. Enjoy.", the Attendant stated happily. Athena was exasperated.

"Okay. I can deal with this. Jack, you're going to be my interpreter, because I am the team leader and I am _furious_ and will continue to be for the next 3 years. Okay?", Athena said, completely done with this situation.

"I get it. I understand. You _should_ be the team leader, but all the cool names are taken. I'll translate whatever you tell us to do into a more polite version. You're angry. I get it.", Jack said, attempting to defuse the situation.

The Lobby Attendant gave the new team their dorm room number and Team JACK left to find their new home. This wasn't going to be a simple walk through the daisies.

"So... It's room 343. It should be right here.", Catherine said, pointing to a room. Which was occupied. By Team MRJJ.

The door had the correct number on it, which was 343. The room however contained Team MRJJ unpacking their bags. Which was a problem.

"What are you doing in our dorm!?", Athena exclaimed.

"Oh, hey guys. It's that girl from the town back there! I thought she looked familiar!", Javelin said.

"This is _our_ dorm this year. I have the ticket.", Rhames responded.

"No, it is not!", Athena replied, growing more annoyed. "We're room 343!" she said, showing her ticket.

"Guys, let's just double check our ticket, okay? No need to fight.", Jacques said.

The ticket Team MRJJ held up clearly read: _Room 636_ on it. Not only were they on the wrong floor entirely, but one of them couldn't read very well or do words good.

"That says 'room 636' on it. Which one of you dumb-asses misread the ticket? I'm betting on the bird.", Athena noted, angrily.

"Aw-wk, Aaaagh. I told you guys this wasn't the right room! Rhames just kicked the door in and started unpacking!", Javelin attempted to explain.

"Rhames! I _knew_ this wasn't right. We should've been higher up since we're starting our 3rd year here, but nooooo!", Minstrel replied.

"Hey, hey. We all make mistakes, I was told it was 343 and I went with it.", Rhames said.

"But you heard when we said we thought was the wrong room and you just went 'okay!' and rushed in here!", Jacques replied.

"That's great. This is great. I love this. I really do. Just keep shouting. All of you. Man, we're gonna do this all day.", Rhames replied, his eyes growing more intense at the accusations.

"Can you just get out of our room?", Athena pleaded.

"Guys, we should leave. We should -awk- leave. Like right now.", Javelin squawked.

"Alright fine, you win. We're leaving.", Jacques concluded.

"But we were here first, doesn't that automatically make this room ours?", Minstrel added.

"Leave. Now.", Athena said, even more frustrated than before.

"Minstrel's right, though. We claimed this room...", Rhames tried to reason.

"Leave or I'll kill you!", Athena roared.

The red eyed man seemed to shudder a bit before beginning to repack his things.

"Dude, you don't know who you're messing with, guys. That's Athena Xiphos, she's like strong. Like-a-man strong. Let's go.", Javelin stated.

"Ohhhh a celebrity, I wasn't even aware. Well, good luck here in Vacuo, Athena!", Minstrel said as he left.

"Hehehe, I'd love a chance to spar someday. You know they call me the Mad King, right?", Rhames said, flashing a grin towards the maroon-haired warrior as he departed.

"Guys, I think we should just go and _build_ our own house.", Jacques said, defeated.

Team MRJJ left the dorm mostly clean and took their belongings up to the 6th floor where they were _supposed_ to be.

"Well, they certainly seemed like a successful team. How do they do it? What are their secrets?", Jack noted, sarcastically.

The dorm room was sparse, 4 separate beds, two windows facing outwards towards the town and two desks against the wall opposite from the beds. Team JACK got to unpacking. Athena hung up all of her extra armor and gear in the only closet in the room, taking up much of the space inside. Khor apparently didn't have much with him and quietly folded some undergarments into a small chest he'd brought with him. Cat unpacked her odd assortment of collectibles, plushies, and clothing into a box which was promptly kicked under her bed. And Jack, unpacked his battle coat, a box of personal items from his home, his Dust supply and other random items into the cabinet closest to his bed. Cat decided to decorate the room with her favorite Vacuo Huntsmen poster displaying Team FNHS; an even more dysfunctional looking group than MRJJ and some artwork depicting Vale. The team was done for the day and decided to head down to the cafeteria for whatever Vacuo called food. It was probably sand flavored sand and rocks.

On the way to the cafeteria, Catherine began to describe the Team they'd just met.

"Oh, so you guys don't know Team MRJJ right? They're the best students here right now. The bird was Javelin Green, he's got a club that doubles as a twin-barreled shotgun and also transforms into a halberd... I think his semblance has something to do with luck... There was Rhames Greyblood, he's a nasty guy. He likes killing and fighting and bad things like that. He can use his semblance to conjure up swords made of diamonds orrr... crystals or something. I dunno, they're sharp. Um... Minstrel Jezero is a nice guy, an angry guy too, and he uses a revolver and automatic pistol that can transform into claws? Umm, his semblance is speed, he can attack really fast...and Jacques Amarillo is the big guy with the beard. He has a morning-star, it turns into a flail AND a grenade launcher! I've heard it weighs over 400 pounds, and his semblance is super strength. He's a gentle guy though, probably the nicest of the team.", Catherine described.

"Well, it certainly sounds like you've done your research. Do you think I could beat them?", Athena asked, inquisitively as she really did want to duel the team. Maybe _they_ would present a challenge.

"What, like one versus four? You against all of them? Nope, you'd die. Vacuo uses tournament rules for duels, a time limit, ring out or aura limit. They're 3rd year students and like, one, of their attacks would break your aura and kill you instantly. It's happened before... Do you really want to take a 400 pound spiky ball to the chest?", Catherine said.

"Well considering you didn't know who I was when we met, then I think you're underestimating my abilities, Cat. I'm going to ask if I can duel them.", Athena announced.

"Well... Do you have any next of kin? When you die horribly in the duel, I can send you and your stuff back to them. I mean, if there's anything left of your stuff... or you.", Catherine said, morbidly. Students _had_ died in duels here, the rules weren't really solid and many lost their lives in petty fights. But maybe, MRJJ would refrain from killing a famous athlete. Or... they'd just murder her horribly and that would be her 5 minutes of fame. Catherine began to look for large buckets for some reason. _I guess you'll just go home in a bucket, Athena. I warned you._

"I'm not going to die, Cat. I'm a warrior. You don't even know my semblance. It'll be fun.", Athena said

"Och, lass. Stop. Ye are going to die. The 4 o' them versus you. Ye will be turned into extra chunky Athena-flavored salsa. Don't be stupid on yer first day.", Khor said attempting to stop the madness.

"Athena, if you fight, I'll join you. It'll be 2 vs 4 then. I'm sure I can handle it.", Jack said. Athena was almost certain he'd die horribly. But a meat shield was still a shield.

"Come on, the school _knows_ who I am. And the biggest tournament is at the end of the year. The frakking Vytal Festival! It'll just be good practice for then. Trust me.", Athena concluded. The Vytal Festival was in Vacuo this year, another reason for her to join the academy. She'd go to her classes for the next week or so, just to prove she was a good student, then she'd duel Team MRJJ solidifying her reputation as an esteemed warrior. Then she'd win the Vytal Festival and statues would be built in her honor. It would be magnificent.

Team Jack arrived in the cafeteria, it was a large room in the bottom floor of the ziggurat-like Academy. It was lined with a mosaic of famous battles and warriors along the upper levels, large reddish pillars supporting the half-domed roof. Several hundred stone tables sat in rows, providing a place to sit and enjoy the spicy curry-like paste and various kinds of spiced meat the cooks were providing today. Jack was busying reading over the flyer they'd been handed at the entrance; it listed all the new Huntsmen teams starting this year.

"So, we've got: Team JACK, Mistrali Transfer: Team ATAK, Team CMIN, Team BDJG, Team CLBB... Man who comes up with these acronyms? _Team Semen? Team Bulge?_ What the hell is wrong with these people?", Jack said.

"That's Team Cumin and Team Badge, Jack. Get you head out of your ass.", Athena corrected.

Athena noticed the bulldog Faunus from earlier eating his food like... a dog, face first in the bowl. His teammates were an equally odd bunch, a very short very wide man in purple and orange, a fat oaf in an orange shirt eating with his hands like an animal, and an extremely hairy and unkempt thing chowing down on sweets and pastries.

"Oh, I know them too! That's Brendan Parmigiani, Patt Dragg, Jarret Duality and Griff Rumsley. They're uhh very unique.", Catherine pointed out.

"That's Team ATAK over there, Alabaster White, Treyco Collins, Alfredo Collins, and Kindel Fyre.", Catherine stated, pointing to a very pale woman in a silken dress, a man with pale skin and a brown jerkin, another man with tan skin and a white jerkin and a particularly sinister woman with dark hair, pale skin and a red dress. Her dark hair was short and her bangs covered one of her eyes. She immediately took notice of the smaller girl in green and the notable maroon-haired warrior next to her.

"So, wait. Are the two Collins guys related to each-other?", Athena asked, not noticing the sinister woman approaching from behind.

"Nope, they're not. It's kinda weird because they look alike.", Catherine noted.

"Well, well then. I guess you're the famous _Athena Xiphos_. Funny, I would've thought you'd have gone to Beacon, considering how good you are in combat. Why come here? To this dump?", Kindel said, reaching the table where Team JACK was seated. "I'm here because it's my destiny. You believe in that right? My family is descended from the Maidens themselves, and I am destined to become one. You will never reach that level of greatness, no matter how much you try, Athena.", the woman said, mockingly.

_Really? On the first day of school?_ "First, Maidens aren't real, they're a fairy tale. Second, you look really stupid, like you spent all your daddy's money on pretty red dresses and eyeliner. Third-", Athena punched with woman in red in the face. "You talk too much."

"_YOU_!", Kindel angrily got up from the floor where she'd fallen after taking the blow to the face. She stood up menacingly and used her semblance to conjure up a bow and arrow made of fire. She aimed, point blank at Athena.

"If you're going to shoot me, then shoot me. If not, then sit back down and shut up.", Athena said, standing up, the arrow tip nearly against her throat.

And then Kindel attempted to fire, she let go of the arrow, but it didn't move. It stayed exactly in the same place in midair. She stared at it confused. In a single instant, the bow was wrenched from her hands and into Athena's. Tables were turned and now Kindel was staring at her own arrow aimed towards her face.

"Oh cool, wow. Great job. Your semblance is _fire_, just like your last name. Fantastic. Mine is telekinesis, how's this for you?", Athena said mocking her mocker. Athena snapped the arrow telekinetically, and dropped the bow on the floor before sitting down again. Kindel simply threw her hands up in exasperation and went back to her table, her teammates already making fun of her on her walk of shame back to them.

"Och, lass. Let's try to make friends. Friends are good.", Khor said.

"She had some pretty big 'daddy' issues didn't she? What a nutcase.", Jack said, chuckling slightly.

"Oooh, so you have telekinesis! You can manipulate stuff with your mind! That's awesome. I change what I said earlier, you can probably take Team MRJJ on alone. They won't even know what to do and will blame each-other and then they'll lose. I'd call it a 60% chance of victory, umm... don't show that off too much otherwise they'll catch on and brutally murder you.", Catherine said again. It seemed like the small girl was betting on her demise. What a little psycho.

**Chapter End, Really sorry for this:**

_**Extremely long Author's Notes:**_

_Teams: Particularly Team ATAK and Team BDJG. BDJG is based on some Rooster Teeth employees, particularly Brandon, Matt Bragg, Geoff Ramsey's Griff character and Jeremy Dooley's Rimmy Tim. They'll most likely be seen in the background as filler for certain events. They're heroes of another story. _

_Team ATAK: Alabaster White is roughly based on another OC I created a while ago for a story which is no longer online. She's a generic hero type is also quiet and stoic like Lie Ren, her armor class and style would be similar to an assassin from Assassin's Creed. Treyco and Alfredo Collins are both based on Achievement Hunter's own Trevor Collins and Alfredo Diaz, with them being mistaken for each-other and looking like pallette-swapped versions of each-other. They're both going to fight like Aladdin, dress like Aladdin and use a scimitar. Their dominant hands are opposite of each-other. Kindel Fyre is a parody of Cinder Fall and named after the cheap Amazon tablet because I couldn't think of any other names and I was drunk off my high-horse and it sounded good. She dresses like a rich girl at a party, has a snooty attitude, and thinks she's better than everyone because she's apparently descended from Maidens. Exactly like the bitchy girl from high-school who's family is like the 5__th__ cousins of somebody famous; ie not really related at all. Basically imagine Weiss Schnee and add another layer of bitch-mode, no character development, and Cinder's egomania; that's essentially what you get: A person who thinks they're awesome, but when shit hits the fan they blame everyone else. Kindel is going to be played with for her stupidity and probably isn't going to be a real threat. Once again, Team ATAK will be seen in the background as filler. They're villains of another story._

_Other Teams: CMIN and CLBB, I had to think of some more names to add to Jack's list. I'm not even going to make up any more characters, just the acronyms as in Cumin is a spice. Club is a club weapon, like a brown stick. Also Team Semen sounded funny because I was drunk again and it sounded funny because the Fandom called Cinder-Mercury-Emerald-Neo Team CMEN, and that's a bad name. I have no characters to describe for either of these teams, they're just fodder for another story._

_Team MRJJ: Team Mirage, which is my attempt at adding my favorite Achievement Hunters into the story as Huntsmen. They're parodies of characters they play already with some moon balls thrown in. Mad King Ryan, Rage Quit Michael, Gavin the buttmonkey, and Jack the builder. You'll probably see a lot of their moments in Achievement Hunter parodied in various ways. I am a huge fan of AH's work and RWBY, so I'm integrating both. You definitely see more of these guys, they're another set of heroes of this story. Hint hint: Selene Globus means Moon Ball, Ludus Amicus essentially translates to Play Pal, and Gryllus means Cricket._

_Team JACK: I'm not going to be able to do a Scottish accent for Khor all of the time. I'm not Rich Burlew, who has written a dwarf accent for years upon years with no variation. Catherine's character isn't what it's going to be from the description page at the beginning, I'm basing her off of a personal friend for now with a little bit of Nora and maybe Ruby tossed in; deal with it. Jack is still Handsome Jaune for the most part. I'm slowly running out of Borderlands quotes, so I'm going to corrupt some of Jaune's quotes into Handsome Jack-esque ones. Athena only looks like Athena from Borderlands, she's not a lesbian in this universe because she's supposed to be a meaner version of Pyrrha. As in her hair's a slightly different shade, her eyes are different. Her armor is similar, but not as revealing,. Weapons are similar because it's Athena the Gladiator vs. Pyrrha the Spartan. If you know what Borderlands Athena looks like, imagine that exact face with Pyrrha's hairstyle and armor; that's the idea._


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Against better judgement, I'm beginning to re-upload all of this ancient thing. If anyone actually reads this thing, you'll begin to know why I rushed the first section of my other fanfic, The Ballad of Pyrrha Nikos and Handsome Jaune. This is the original horror that was written as a 75K word one-shot. More of an original work set in RWBY's universe before I decided to make a Crack-Fic. If you're a reader of the previously mentioned fanfic, you'll note that most of the characterizations and OC's are similar. **

* * *

XXXXX

Chapter 3

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**Shade Academy, Dorm Room 343**

"You're a Faunus!?", a squeaky voice shouted as Athena and Jack entered the room.

Khor had removed his armor for the first time in order to try on a nice suit.

"Och, Lass. I be a Faunus. Wasn't it obvious? I kept me face hidden? Faunus aren't exactly welcome in most places.", he said.

"Hey, hey. What? Khor's a Faunus? What?" Jack asked.

"I am a turtle Faunus. I'm an armored tank, both naturally and otherwise. Does that change ye opinion of me?", Khor asked back.

"Nope, You're a strong warrior. It's just a little jarring. We didn't really know what you actually looked like under the armor. You could've been a robot or something. I dunno.", Jack said

Khor had greenish skin, a ragged black beard covered his mouth and hardened scales covered the visible parts of his body. He looked decent in his black suit he'd purchased in the town market.

"So what's the occasion?", Athena asked.

"Well, lass. There's a dance tomorrow. I decided to dress for tha part.", Khor announced.

"Athena! Are you okay? You have a bruise on your... Um. Neck. And you're really dirty. What happened?", Cat asked. Khor stepped up beside Athena and raised a hand. He used his Semblance, a healing touch, to heal her bruise and other wounds. A small golden flash emanated from between his fingers.

"Just a little side quest. Jack and I sorta... burned down a bandit camp. They were really bad guys though. They were selling fresh water at exorbitant prices to the locals.", Athena noted, calmly.

"Wait. You _burned down a bandit camp!?_ Uhhhmmm. That was probably a really bad idea, Athena. Like these Scarlet guys basically control the desert here. Um. You _might_ be marked for death now.", Cat said.

"Ehh, we killed them all. There weren't any survivors.", Jack added.

"Well for your sake, I really hope there weren't any. The Scarlet guys are scary, there's like a lot of them. An old army guy, a big burly guy, a scary girl, an even scarier girl that makes death robots, and even a supposed _Maiden_ that leads them. Becuz if you thought MRJJ was a tough fight, these guys are super serious and will absolutely destroy you.", Cat described. "Like as in _nothing_ left at all to bury. Like they'll turn you into dust particles and stuff."

"Well thanks for the exposition, Cat. It's great knowing my future seems to bright.", Athena said sarcastically. The bandits were all dead, though. So it wouldn't be that bad. Maybe whoever was in charge would just assume a wildfire destroyed the camp. But then she realized they'd just left Paxton's body lying in the dirt with a huge bullet hole in his chest. _This isn't good._

Team JACK decided to rest, tomorrow was another day. Khor and Cat stopped trying on clothes and got ready for bed. Athena sat awake for a long time. She was following Jack down a road she didn't really want to be on right now, but if she was going to become a Huntress, then maybe a few bandits needed to die. Her future career would most likely involve more than just that. And she needed to experience an actual fight if she was going to succeed.

**Shade Academy, Combat Stage**

"And Kindel Fyre is down. By both ringout and Aura depletion. In a world record time of 34 seconds." Westwich announced dryly. "Miss Fyre, I suggest perhaps researching your opponent's reputation before you attempt another one of these _duels_. That was the most pathetic attempt at combat I have ever seen in my history here as a Professor." she continued, staring at the beaten, bruised and currently unconscious Kindel lying in a heap on the floor in front of her. "Congratulations Athena, you won." Westwich announced, sounding apathetic and slightly sarcastic.

Athena shook her head and walked off the stage back to her team. Kindel was all talk and no fight. Apparently a well-thrown shield to the face was enough to take out the overly bombastic daddy's girl.

"Well, that was anticlimactic. The match started, Stupidity Maiden Kindel tried to pull her bow and then you just whacked her with your shield. Bonk. Out.", Jack said, chuckling as he described the 'fight'. Behind them, Kindel woke up dazed and stumbled off the stage, falling again before getting up and hobbling over to her team. Alabaster and the others just looked at her in disappointment.

"Oooh, you finna get yourself killed, girl!", Alfredo mocked.

"Pathetic.", Alabaster noted abruptly.

"Yeahhh... That was awful.", Treyco stated, looking away from his teammates.

"Shut up. All of you. You couldn't so much as dare try to fight her! I am the greatest!", Kindel denied.

"No, we're smarter than to take on a 6 time tournament winner.", Treyco responded.

"Yeah, we finna be Huntsmen not losers!", Alfredo chimed in.

"Unintelligent.", Alabaster stated, before pulling the other members of the team back towards the dorms leaving Kindel fuming angrily in the empty hall.

Jack and Athena had returned to their dorm. Khor and Cat were mysteriously absent, probably at that Desert Dance they'd mentioned earlier. A tiny green girl and a stocky green Faunus shoehorned into a dress suit, what a perfect pair. Athena couldn't imagine what _kind_ of dance they'd be doing. She looked over to Jack, he had a thin cord connecting his Scroll to his Neural implant. He looked particularly busy with something.

"What are you doing, Jack? What's... What's the thing on your head do?", Athena asked.

"I'm monitoring the CCT network. It was my job in Atlas. The _thing_ on my head is a Neural Data Processor, it allows me to translate the hidden data in the network and track signals. I can save things to it like a drive on a computer for future use. Think like an extra slot for memories and stuff that I can access at will. It's basically a computer built into my skull.", He stated, pointing at the thin metal strip on his temple. General Ironwood had a similar strip on his head as well, Athena assumed it was a common augment in Atlas.

"So... What do you see?", she asked inquisitively.

"A lot of chatter about _us._ Mostly about the camp we ransacked yesterday, a lot of praise for you during your combat trials here, and _some_ chatter about the burned camp. It... It doesn't sound too good really. I don't think the bandits know who we are yet, but I can see that they're not happy about Paxton's death. Someone survived the attack on the camp.", Jack stated, sounding worried.

_Great..._ The bandits probably didn't know Jack was on the continent, as they probably assumed he was still in Atlas. The bandits did know who Athena was, and where she was staying. Just like everyone else with a Scroll who read the news articles about Athena attending Shade rather than Haven. If she was linked to the bandit camp incident, then both of them were in serious trouble.

"If we can get to the actual CCT control tower here in Shade I can use its amplified signal to get a better idea of what's going on. We just need to get there and I just need to plug into it.", Jack announced.

"That's not going to be easy, Jack. It's 500 ft up in the air on top of the roof of the Combat Hall. What would we possibly gain from that?", Athena questioned.

"A better idea of what the bandits are doing. I found their signal. We don't have to do it right now, just keep it in mind. Maybe wait a few days to see if this just blows over.", Jack answered.

Athena just sighed, Jack and his adventures. At least it was more fun than what the school was trying to teach them.

**Somewhere**

A tall scarlet haired woman stood over a cowering bandit, she was enraged beyond what was thought possible.

"You're sure, then. It was her? Athena Xiphos?", she said coldly.

"It-it was, milady. It was her and the Trevali boy. They took out Paxton and burned the camp. It was them-", the bandit was cut off suddenly as a bullet pierced his brain.

"Failure. Utter failure. Well then, Athena Xiphos, the star of Mistral and the little wonder girl at Shade. We know where you are. And where you are, then that little bastard is probably hiding with you.", the woman snarled.

"Miss, we cannot attack the school directly. It would cause a panic.", another man said. He was huge and also covered in scars. His bald head shone in the moonlight contrasting his dark complexion. His arms were the size of tree trunks and his legs equally as large.

"We won't. Not yet. The tournament is in a few months, what better time to act then when _all_ the other losers are pouring into Shade seeking victory.", she said again, words cold as steel.

"Oooh, my new deathtrap robot is finally gonna see some action!", a smaller girl said, a crazed look in her eye.

"Now, now. I'm the one who's going to be crushing them.", A different girl said, her dark blue hair rolling down her back. A purple tattoo emblazoned across her left arm and stomach.

"Quiet. We will have our vengeance. And we will eliminate Trevali and the gladiator in due time. For now, gather information on them. The Vytal Festival approaches.", the scarlet haired woman concluded.

**Shade Academy, 3 months later**

The Vytal Festival opening ceremony had begun, Shade was welcoming students from around the world to compete in the festival. It was a celebratory event honoring the end of the Great War. The Amity Arena floated high over the central ziggurat and the festival fairgrounds were being set up in the clearing next to the Academy's oasis.

Athena and Jack walked through the town, looking at all the other teams pouring in from around the world. Jack had noticed that the Raiders had gone dark for now. Either they were planning something or they'd written off the desert oasis camp. CCT chatter was low. Team JACK, ATAK and MRJJ were competing this year. Team BDJG had failed their own qualifying match spectacularly, losing to the last member of Team CCWW from Atlas. Caroline Taxus had managed to beat the entire team with her fists, Griff Rumsley taking 9 hits to the groin in the match and hitting Patt Dragg so hard his armor came off. Brendan Parmigiani had run out of the ring in fear and Jarret Duality was turned into a human volleyball and used to abuse his other teammates. It was a disaster. They were so _bad_ at fighting they'd caused Professor Westwich to burst out laughing, breaking her usually apathetic demeanor. The match had ended with Westwich falling into a fit of laughter and snorts as she announced BDJG's horrific loss.

"You ran out of the ring! Out. Of. The. RING!", Griff yelled, his voice cracking as he got louder.

"Hey, I didn't see you doing much. At least I got chicken.", the bulldog Faunus said as he consumed friend chicken from a bucket, eating the meat and bones together.

"Hup hap fwep HAP hup up HEP Hap!", Jarret said, his words completely unintelligible.

"Uhh yeah. He said we failed so bad we broke the Combat Professor. We suck.", Patt translated.

"Hep hup!", Jarret greeted as he noticed team JACK standing near the projections screen that'd broadcasted their pitiful fight.

"Oh hey. Athena, I heard you're competing! Best of luck!", Griff said cheerfully.

"Heh pappa pa Appa ta hap, Hep hap hap fwep!", Jarret eeked.

"He said he wishes you good luck, Athena. CCWW is tough.", Patt said, translating for the bizarre man.

Brendan hadn't noticed team JACK at all, instead he was too busy sucking chicken meat off of the bones left in his bucket.

Athena rolled her eyes and 'congratulated' her fellow team for their 'fight' and walked away in disgust.

"Man, you ever wonder how they got here? That was awful.", Jack said as they walked away from BDJG.

"Fortunately for us, Caroline Taxus is the only competent member of her team and she was fighting four idiots who had run out of luck. David Washingtub got shot immediately in the head, Lenny Crutch got shot by his own teammates, and Regal Whymee tried to use his white armor as camo against black rocks and got knocked out by Griff. If that's what Atlas has in store for us, then I'm staggeringly surprised by the 'might' of the military.", Athena stated.

Khor stood looking at the lineup for the various matches.

"Aye, it appears that team ATAK will be fighting against CCWW of Atlas, MRJJ will be against BGBG of Vale, and we'll be against MRPI of Mistral. Looks like a good fight." Khor announced. There would be no random team pairings this year, many students couldn't or wouldn't travel to Vacuo for the tournament. It was a tough place, after all.

Jack suddenly appeared, he shoved a bluish mass into Athena's face.

"Got you some candy floss!", Jack announced, the sugary confection held out a little too close to her face.

"Oh, that's so _sweet_ of you Jack.", Athena said taking the mound of fluff the only thing more sickeningly sweet than Catherine.

Team JACK continued their tour of the fairgrounds, they passed a set of bird Faunus squawking at each other.

"Awk! You a Pigeon Faunus, mate?" Javelin squeaked.

"Bwawk, nope. Parrot Faunus.", A similarly named Gavino answered.

"That's top!"

"Toppy tippers!"

JACK passed by a few other members of team BGBG, a vulgar blond girl, an angry bearded man with glasses, and a funny tan skinned man with a thick mustache who was currently drunk and arguing about cheese for some reason. Another award winning team, MRJJ would be right at home.

Feeling a bit peckish, Team JACK stopped at the newly constructed Simple Wok noodle hut, the silent shopkeep sliding bowls of noodles towards them. Jack ordered Atlas style noodles, which were plain in a butter sauce, Athena had Mistral style, which contained various types of seafood. Khor didn't have any noodles, instead opting for a plate of various fried foods and Catherine had the Chef's special, which looked identical to Jack's noodles. Classes had been postponed for the tournament, so they actually had a chance to relax for a bit.

Team MRPI approached and sat down next to them.

"Oh. I don't think we've met yet. I'm Morrigan, team leader of Team Mariposa.", the scarlet haired woman said politely. She was pale with scarlet hair that ended at her shoulders, she wore a tribal tattoo that covered her right arm, mirroring her teammate's left arm tattoo. She was clad in a burgundy dress, one sleeve longer than the other hiding her left arm. She sat beside Jack, eyeing his team.

"Oh hey. I guess you're Team MRPI, then. Welcome to Vacuo.", Jack said oblivious to the stare he was receiving from Morrigan.

"Right. Well, this is my team. Regan the bruiser", she said pointing to the dark skinned behemoth of a man. He winked at team JACK. "Paige the robotech", she said pointing to a girl no older than Catherine with a raggedy patched dress, she had orange hair tied into pigtails and wore a set of flight goggles. She waved happily. "And Inca the Muse.", pointing at the final member of Team MRPI. Inca had dark blue hair and wore a clashing yellow jumpsuit, her left arm was exposed revealing the matching tribal tattoo like her leader. She scowled at her opposing team. "Well then. It was good meeting you all, we have to... prepare for the tournament." Morrigan said before leaving abruptly.

Cat piped up after the other team had left. "Sooooo... Anyone wanna guess that they're the bandits that want to kill us?" Cat had pulled a lampshade off of one of the lights and was currently wearing it as a hat. "I mean, they went radio silent. It's been a while and _I_ think that's them. They're gonna kill us in the tournament tomorrow and make it look like an accident!"

"Cat, that's a little extreme... And take that off your head. You look silly. Maybe it's just a weird coincidence. The Scarlet Raiders wouldn't attack and kill us in an arena filled to the brim with spectators during a world broadcasted festival. That's just stupid.", Athena noted.

Cat put the lampshade back on the light. "Maybe. Maybe not. It just matches my previous description of them, that's all. You... You guys were listening to me when I said that right?"

"We try to tone you out, Cat. You get weirdly morbid from time to time.", Jack stated.

"Oh. Well it's good to see you all appreciate me.", Cat said dejected.

The team finished their meal and headed back to the Academy grounds. They would have to hone their skills for the battles tomorrow. It would be a glorious day.

Athena was almost certain she'd figured out Jack's weird Semblance. Whenever he was present, the team's own Semblances were enhanced, she had more power, Khor could generate a shield wall, Catherine could even fly with her powers over the wind. When he wasn't around, they didn't have the same abilities. Jack was either unaware completely of the circumstances, or he was just pinning it on their excellent teamwork. Jack _could_ seemingly amplify their own Semblances, and it never seemed like he needed to activate it. Jack had told her before that his late sister had a similar problem with her semblance, in that it was random and always active. Athena just needed to tell Jack and hopefully help him utilize its potential.

Jack paced the gardens outside of the Academy. He was worried. His team would be fine, but he still didn't have a Semblance. Aura was fine, his was far superior to his classmates. Athena soon found him and walked over.

"Jack... Your Semblance. I think I've got it. It's rare. Most people can use their Semblance like a tool, activating it whenever necessary. But... Yours is a rare type, it's always active and you've just never noticed it.", Athena said.

"Oh really? What does it do then?", said Jack

"It's amplification. You can amplify _our_ Semblances with yours. Just try for a moment here, try to boost mine. I'm going to try to lift the statue over there, the one with the four heroes...", Athena pointed and attempted to lift the 50 ft statue. The statue shook, but didn't budge. She shook with concentration as the statue vibrated. "Just... Imagine something happy, something you love. See if you can amplify my Semblance."

Jack reached out and touched Athena's shoulder. He imagined a world where his family still lived, where there was no war. Where he was just a normal boy living a normal life with his kid sister. He imagined a future where he was an uncle to his little sister's children. He imagined Athena and him in the future, together with a family of their own. And he channeled his love for the maroon-haired gladiator outwards.

The statue immediately shot into the air at 100 mph, the four stone heroes separating from the stone base that held them together. Athena stopped concentrating her Semblance and looked in horror at what they'd done. She watched the now broken statue fly off into the desert outside of the Academy like a missile. "Jack..." she turned to face the blond gunman. "Jack.. You really did it. You have a Semblance. And... It's incredible." Dull thuds in the sand far beyond the walls signified the landing of the statue. _Well we burned down a bandit camp and vandalized a statue. All in good fun, right?_

Jack really _could_ amplify Semblances, Khor would be unstoppable, Catherine could probably conjure a hurricane, and Athena was essentially a _god_. As long as Jack was around, of course. Athena was more confident than ever, if Team MRPI was in fact the Scarlet Raiders in disguise, then they stood no chance at all. Not even the toughest combatants in the Vytal Festival stood a chance. She wanted to make sure she and Jack made it to the doubles round. It would be magnificent.

Later that night in Team JACK's dorm, Catherine catapulted into the room.

"...And then someone disassembled the Shade Hero Statue and dragged it into the desert!" Cat exclaimed

Apparently the destruction of the stone monument hadn't gone unnoticed. Athena just shrugged ambiguously.

"Maybe it was the bandits? Maybe they wanted to discourage us from competing?", Athena mused.

"It was a 50ft tall 3 ton statue, Athena. It ended up miles away in the middle of the desert! I don't want to fight a team that can do.. uh.. _That._" Cat said.

"Well you don't have to worry your little head, Cat. Because Athena and I did that. My Semblance awoke. I can amp your Semblance to infinite levels!", Jack said proudly. The small girl looked at him in surprise and awe.

"Oooh, I always knew you had something special, Jack! That's amazing! We''re gonna win so hard in the tournament, the Scarlet Raiders will just run away in fear like Brendan did today.", Cat beamed remembering BDJG's incredible failure.

Jack and Athena sat alone in the corner, their teammates talking about their future victories across the dorm.

"Jack, you also need to use your rail-guns correctly. You don't need to lead your targets like a normal gun. Rail-guns fire faster than regular bullets, whatever you're aiming at you'll hit. Just aim and fire. You'll hit your target every time then. If they're very far away, you might have to lead them then, but for anything within 500 ft, you won't. If you can see it, you can hit it. I promise.", Athena explained.

"Oh, well that makes a lot more sense. I thought rail-guns were slower than normal guns...", Jack said.

"They're slower to reload and recharge, but if you get a good shot in, you don't have to worry about that. Just trust your skills and weapons, Jack. Tomorrow's fight will be easy. Trust me.", Athena reassured.

**Amity Arena, Afternoon**

"Ladies and Gentlemen! This is the 39th biannual Vytal Festival Tournament! I am Professor Stout and this is Professor Westwich! We'll be your announcers during the fights today!", the bombastic portly man said.

"Today we will observe Team Mirage versus Team Bigby. Please give a round of applause to our two teams. Hooray.", Westwich announced apathetically.

Both teams stood ready as the random environments appeared, a burned cityscape and a lush forest. Team MRJJ readied their weapons and BGBG simply stared at them in disbelief. MRJJ started off the attack as usual.

Jacques ran forward with his morning-star, swinging it high over his head towards Gust Brahmin. Burner Burns countered the attack with a flamethrower aimed at Jacques, the larger man taking the full hit and shrugging it off. Barbarica Mandrake leaped up and kicked Jacques in the jaw, knocking him backwards while Minstrel and Rhames went to flank the two attacking team members. Javelin and Gavino faced off separate from their own teams, the two birds swinging a club against a halberd.

Jacques swapped his weapon to grenade launcher mode and fired repeatedly, littering the battleground with smaller spiked balls, the projectiles exploding and sending spikes everywhere. The spikes hit indiscriminately, both his own team and the attacking one. Gust stumbled over his own feet avoiding one of the blasts; the poor man was still drunk from yesterday and flailed about in the mayhem. Burner backflipped sideways and struck Gavino by accident, knocking the Faunus onto his knees as Javelin's club struck him in the groin at full force.

"Oh hohoho, It appears that Gavino is out of the match due to Aura depletion!", Stout announced.

Minstrel jumped high over his opponents, raining down a hail of bullets from both guns, the opposition scattering in response. Rhames ran up behind and swung a diamond great sword at Burner, missing a decapitating slice as the man dodged. The slash managed to shave Burner's beard a bit though, which cause the other man to go into a fury. A second slash with the diamond sword cleaved Burner's flamethrower in twain. Now weaponless, Burner retreated to his teammates and began issuing orders. Out of earshot, Barbarica descended from the skies wielding twin daggers aimed for Minstrel. The blue assassin dodged and caught the barbarian's daggers with his own iron claws, both attacking fast and furiously as their teams fought on.

Up in the stands, Jack noticed Team MRPI leaving suddenly. The crowd was engrossed by the combat below. Jack saw the scarlet haired woman gesture to her team before exiting the arena quickly. Jack turned to his team.

"Ohhhkay. Maybe Catherine was right. These guys might be up to something. They're leaving an incredible fight for some reason.", Jack said.

"Maybe they need to use the restroom?", Athena said

"But they're leaving together, unless they like sharing toilets together, then Cat was right, they're planning something!", Jack insisted.

"Okay, I'll humor you. Why do you think they're leaving, Jack?"

"The arena is hovering over the CCT Control Tower, if they jump off the southern edge, they'll land right on it. They're going to disable the tower, Athena. And in the chaos they'll attack. Without communications, the school will fall.", Jack stated.

Athena sighed and silently agreed. She followed Jack out of the arena grandstands and out into the docking area. Khor didn't even notice their departure, Cat shrugged it off as she'd noticed the blossoming love between the two and thought of squicky thoughts and went quickly back to enjoying her snacks; she really didn't want to imagine what kind of kinks Athena was into.

Upon the southern edge of the docking ring, Athena and Jack could see over the edge and down onto the upper levels of the CCT Control Tower, it wasn't that far away, less than 15 ft. It would be an easy jump for a Huntsman to make. The narrow catwalk on the tower surrounded a domed control center, the heart and brains of the CCT network of Shade Academy. Jack was first to take action, jumping off the docking ring and down onto the catwalk below, he rolled upon impact to avoid slipping off the tower. Athena rolled her eyes again and followed him, she landed gracefully on the catwalk next to Jack.

The two warriors peered in through the windows of the control center, there wasn't anybody around. The whole tower seemed deserted, and several rows of computers within the room displayed an odd symbol. Jack slowly crept inside.

"Athena, there's nobody here.", he said.

Obviously there wasn't anyone here, the room was small and circular and filled with computers. A few coffee mugs lay abandoned on the desks nearby, as if whoever had been in here had left in a hurry. Athena stared at the symbol on the screens, it looked like a rook; a chess piece.

"Do you think we're too late? I'm not sure what happened here...", Athena noted.

"Athena, guard the door. I'm going to neural link into the network. There has to be something here. I know it.", Jack said, connecting his Neural Net Link into the main terminal. His left eye went green as the neural implant began to download the information.

"Oh... Oh! I get it... I understand. I understand everything!", Jack announced in victory. Suddenly the frontmost window exploded outwards, a sudden vacuum pulled Athena off her feet and out the window. "Athena!"

"Heya, hero.", Inca mocked, before she swung a blade into Jack's face. The blade slashed diagonally across his face, cutting deep and hitting bone. It cut from the side of his chin through the bridge of his nose, missing his left eye by millimeters. Jack fell backwards in agony. "Aaaaugh!"

Athena, having been yanked out the window by some sort of force, nearly fell off the edge of the tower. She frantically grabbed the railing of the catwalk before she plummeted to her doom. She heard a cry of pain and anguish. _Jack!_ Athena flung her shield blindly into the room before she climbed to her feet and vaulted back through the broken window. The shield entered the room at mach speed, connecting with Inca's body at terminal velocity. The impact knocked the intruder out an adjacent side window and off the side of the tower as the arc of the shield returned it to Athena.

Jack clutched his face and ripped the link cable from his neural augment. "Oh... Sonofa... I'm going to kill her. _I'm going to KILL them ALL." he raged. "_First, you're going to get me a doctor. _Then_ we're going to wipe those Raider bastards off the face of Vacuo. And then... Then we're going to find the 'Warrior'!"

"The what?" Athena asked, cocking her head slightly. _He's losing it..._

"Ancient Mantle-era warmachine. It's going to be _so_ good. We're going to scorch this continent in _fire..._There's going to be screaming... Bandits are going to _die_ left and right... I can't _wait!", _Jack cackled maniacally.

"Jack, snap out of it. You're going to be fine. Your aura will heal your-", Athena looked at Jack's face and the wound. His Aura would probably heal most of the damage, but his face would be forever scarred.

"Athena, pumpkin. It's just you and me versus the world. And the world will _burn_ for me.", he snarled.

"Jack. Stop. You're losing it. If you don't stop... Then I'm sorry for what I'm going to have to do.", she said as she reached her hand out to push him away with her Semblance, but there was nothing. Jack approached her in fury.

"And what's that, Athena? Are _you _going to betray me? Here? After all this? I _know_ what we have to do. I _know_ what needs to be done! I am the hero! And they are a group of goddamn bandits!", he yelled in a blind rage, hands reaching towards Athena's throat.

Athena backed away slightly, "I'm sorry, Jack" and punched the blond man in the face hard, knocking him unconscious.

**Shade Academy Infirmary, The Next Day**

Jack sat alone in the hospital room, Athena and the rest of his team head left for their fight. It was Team ACK versus Team MRP. The two injured members of the teams absent for reasons only Jack was aware of. Athena had told the Shade Academy Guard that they'd been attacked and thrown off the Amity Arena, fighting back their attacker on the CCT Tower and that Jack had been injured during the fight. Inca, the opposing member of Team Mariposa and presumably the Scarlet Raider bandit as well was missing, whether or not she was dead nobody was certain. He watched his team's own fight on the TV in the room. Regan fought a lot like Rhames, conjuring swords made of magma, he also used a large caliber pistol for ranged attacks. It didn't seem like he had a gimmick to his weapons, they were simple and effective. The large man was blindsided repeatedly by Athena's shield and knocked out of the match early on. Morrigan stood back throwing fireballs made of Burn Dust crystals, she didn't appear to have a close range weapon, which was unfortunate when Khor transformed his miniguns back into maces and clobbered her real good. Paige was an absolute mess, appearing to not have a semblance or real weapon skills, instead using a remote-controlled robot to do most of the fighting. Both the robot and the girl were swept up and out of the arena by Catherine's power of the wind. So much for the Scarlet Raiders, huh? They were strong in numbers just like the bandits they were, but when against actual heroes, they faltered and fell easily. Jack chuckled lightly, the smile he bore hurt a bit, as it strained the scar tissue in his face.

Jack turned off the TV and went back to his little pet-project. He'd seen the results of the attack last night in the mirror. His once-handsome face was now scarred and broken. Athena had seemed hesitant to be around him now; he really didn't remember much of his outburst last night. He scanned through the fragmented data he'd collected from the CCT network the night before, his left eye turning green as the data was fed directly to his brain. The Scarlet Raiders were looking for an old war machine called the Warrior. It was Mantle-era, presumably a prototype. It was made using technology his family had designed alongside the military. That explained why the Raiders were looking for Trevali tech, to activate the old battleship. They were getting orders from somebody else, as it seemed. An entity Jack was unaware of since the data he'd downloaded was heavily encrypted. There was also a mentioning of 'Vaults' around the world. In his mind, a vault contained valuable items, and if the Raiders were looking for them too, then they must contain weapons as well. He made a mental note to mention that finding to his team, if they even trusted him anymore. He shut off his neural augment, it was starting to hurt his head and it would take time to decrypt the rest of the files.

Jack turned to another small project. He was incredibly self-conscious before the injury and now even more. He knew the White Fang wore Grimm masks for intimidation purposes, so why couldn't he wear a mask too? He could reinvent himself. He looked at the plaster-white Jester's mask and carefully painted blood-red streaks down its face, making it look like the devilish mask was crying blood. He highlighted the mouth in black and made his best attempt at painting a humanoid Grimm. When he was done, he set the porcelain mask down on the table. If nobody loved him after last night, then they would certainly fear him now.

A short while after the Tournament fight, Athena came to visit Jack.

"You're awake! Jack, last night...", Athena said "You lost it a little bit there. I'm sorry..."

"No don't worry Athena. It's fine. I'm back . I'm good. I uhh... I made a new face too.", he said, holding up the hideous mask.

Athena recoiled at the sight of the thing. It was a hideous version of his own face, just Grimm-like and sneering.

"Jack, that's horrible. That's... not even what a mask if _for_. Masks are supposed to hide your face, they're not supposed to look like it.", Athena said, still reeling from the sight of the hideous Grimm Jack mask.

"Well, I guess I'm just a little self-conscious. I was afraid you wouldn't want to be around me anymore with this scar. That I was unattractive to you now. I still love you Athena.",

Athena took the mask from Jack and set it aside. "And I still love you too. You'll always be handsome, Jack." she said as she kissed his forehead.

Jack felt a lot better. He'd wear his new scar as a badge of honor. He looked down at the mask and tucked it away into his bags. _Maybe another time... Another place..._

"Oh, so I managed to recover some _very_ interesting data last night...", Jack announced.

"Yeah, 'The Warrior'. You said that last night.", Athena said.

"Oh, yeah. It's a Mantle-era warship, my family built it during the War with help from the Military. If the Raiders are looking for that, then... Then bad things are about to happen. They're also looking for... uhh... Vaults."

"Vaults!?", Athena said shocked. Athena had a run in with some very peculiar people on her way back from the Amity Arena. A happier version of Professor Westwich and tall man with a proverbial stick-in-his-ass stopped her and asked her if she'd wanted to become part of something greater. They mentioned a guy named Ozpin, whom she was aware of as Headmaster at Beacon Academy. They told her fairy-tales were real, that _maidens_ were also real and something about guarding vaults. They'd talked about complete and utter nonsense for almost a half-hour before she cut them off. They were obviously trying to encourage her to transfer to Beacon by playing up the 'Legendary Huntress' trope that all the academies used. 'You could even become a Maiden yourself if you choose!' they'd said. It was complete insanity and Athena had enough of insanity for a while. "Yeah, no. Soon you're going to tell me the power of courage was inside me all along. I have better things to do than listen to you two freaks.", she said before leaving the two strangers standing in the marketplace.

"Uhh, yeah. Vaults. You still in there Athena? You zoned out for a bit there. Apparently there are Vaults all over the world and whoever is commanding these Raiders are looking for them. Another reason stop them.", Jack said, staring at Athena, who'd gone glassy eyed for a moment.

"Well. Vaults, huh. And a 'Warrior'. Sounds like an adventure.", Athena said, vaguely remembering her conversation with the two weirdos in the fairgrounds. "You can count me in, Jack. Whatever they're up to, it's not good."

"I have more data, but it's corrupt. I'll need time to decrypt it. In the meantime, we can get back to the Festival. I am clear to fight right?", he said.

"You're clear. The other member of Mariposa never returned, but I wouldn't count them out of this entirely. Doubles are next and the two of us have been chosen. We won that last fight by pure luck; we can't fight like this without you."

**Amity Arena**

About an hour later, Jack and Athena watched Rhames and Jacques against Burner and Gust. The larger man in a tartan sending out diamond swords, switching back to a diamond rifle and so on. Jacques swung his flail with reckless abandon, destroying large chunks of the arena in the process. Fans on Vacuo's side chanted 'moon ball', which was the unofficial name of Selene Globus as the spiked flail crashed into everything. Gust, the perpetually drunk teammate ran around dodging the blows while Burner screamed at his colleague. A massive diamond club slammed into Gust like he was a golf ball and threw him into Burner knocking the two out of the arena and into the force-field protecting the crowd.

"And Team Mirage wins again.", Westwich announced sounding bored. The 8ft tall red-bearded behemoth of a man posed valiantly with his mace while the Mad King flexed and posed beside him. The fans went wild and cheered holding up Team MRJJ plushies and other merchandise.

"Applause and congrats to Rhames and Jacques! The next fight will begin in 15 minutes! Jack and Athena of Team Jack O'Lantern versus Regan and Paige of Team Mariposa!", Professor Stout announced excitedly.

Jack and Athena stared at each-other. They were the strongest members of their team versus the weakest of the other team. What exactly were the Scarlet Raiders trying to do here? Lose spectacularly? During the intermission, the two went down to the lobby to reconvene with their team. They passed Rhames and a fangirl on the way down, the 'Mad King' tipping his crown to the spindly girl with a grin. "M'lady..." he said as the girl fainted and fell backwards. Athena and Jack grabbed some arena snacks and quickly headed for the staging area. This wasn't going to be a tough fight.

The crowds lit up again in cheer, Athena's fans holding up brightly colored signs in adoration. Jack didn't have any fans, since nobody really knew who he was and instead held up signs depicting his old face with a cheerful grin on it. The gunman and the gladiator readied their weapons as the bruiser and the robotech did the same. The clock counted down and the match begun.

"It's robot fighting time!" the tiny girl announced and deployed a ramshackle looking robot into the field. It didn't look like she'd had time to repair it between fights. The ugly monstrosity whined and groaned as it hovered towards the two. Athena simply raised her hand and grabbed the robot with her Semblance, flinging it back into the small girl. The robot broke into pieces on impact, the smaller girl dazed and confused. Athena smirked at the sight, not noticing Regan running towards her.

"Here comes the pain train! Woo Woo!", he shouted as he ran into Athena, knocking her across the arena. Athena rolled and quickly got up again, just in time to see Regan's fists coming down on her. A shot from across the arena signified that Jack had just fired a rail-gun blast and actually hit something. "Hey. Why don't you pick on someone... your... own... uhh.. size?", Jack stuttered as the huge man walked over to him. Regan simply whacked Jack on top of the head, sending the smaller man sprawling before he turned back to the gladiator, who was no longer on the ground. Regan took a shield toss to the chest, which sent him flying back into the rocks littered around the arena. He was dazed.

"Hey two can play with rail-guns! Taste the Bane!", Paige shouted and pulled out a far more modern rail-gun; a fully automatic one. The gun screamed in shrill notes as its cooling unit spooled sounding like insane birdsong and its fast fire followed Athena around the ring. It was a truly annoying sound. The problem with a fully automatic rail-gun was the recoil, which caused the small girl to walk at a snail's pace, giving Jack time to return fire. He missed her completely, but hit a slab of sandstone high above, breaking the slab off and sending it tumbling down onto the nerdy girl. The rock shattered on impact with Paige's body.

"Oh hooo! And Paige is down and out!", Stout announced.

"Oh, you're going to regret that!", Regan screamed and charged towards Jack. Athena used her now amplified Semblance to pick up the fragments of sandstone, the robot parts and Regan's unconscious teammate and hurled them all at the raging bruiser. The bruiser shrugged off the sandstone, it was lightweight. He stumbled when the robot parts impacted his body, and finally was knocked out when the body of his teammate met his face. The two rolled into a heap on the ground far away from team JACK.

"A double knockout! Team Jack O' Lantern wins the doubles match!", Stout announced as the crowds went wild again. Athena spun her sword with her Semblance and Jack posed with his rail-guns. It really wasn't much of a challenge. What were they thinking?

Athena and Jack both went downstairs to the Lounge. Team MRPI was mysteriously absent from the Fighter's Lounge, but all the other teams were busy replaying their matches on the projector screens. Rhames stepped over to the two.

"Jack! Athena! You missed the end of our first fight! Javelin made a truly astonishing hit on Barbarica and Minstrel took out Burner in a whirlwind of gunfire and blows.", he recounted. "Oh, and I like the new look, Jackie. It makes you look like a real _badass!_" he said, slapping the man on the back and almost sending him to the ground.

"Thanks, Rhames. You did really well in the doubles too.", Jack said.

An announcement blared over the loudspeakers, "Team MRPI has withdrawn from the Vytal Festival citing injuries sustained during the previous matches. They will no longer be competing.", Westwich announced apathetically.

In an instant, the match boards changed and displayed the new lineup for the singles matches. Athena versus Caroline Taxus and Rhames versus Barbarica. The other teams would receive medals for their own fights. Athena was a little dismayed and a little suspicious. MRPI were the Scarlet Raiders, she knew, Jack knew. Nobody believed them. They were just going to forfeit? She guessed they'd finally realized it was pointless to try and fight. _Oh well._

The final matches had begun, Rhames versus Barbarica, The Mad King against the Barbarian Queen. The arena was barren, there were no variations in the terrain this time, The empty octagon floated above the original ring allowing a view from all angles. Rhames threw a handful off dust into the air, conjuring a set of diamond greatswords. Barbarica drew her club and buckler and stood ready as Rhames began the first attack, throwing his swords at his opponent. The barbarian swung her club, deflecting the dual swords and shattering them. Rhames quickly moved around his target, conjuring another set of weapons, this time a familiar circular shield and a shortsword. He threw the shield like his former gladiator opponent, knocking the barbarian to the ground. The shortsword, made of red burn dust burst into flame on contact with Barbarica's buckler, causing the strong woman to toss it away. She returned with a heavy slam against Rhames' chestplate, temporarily stunning the gigantic man. Rhames stepped back again, this time conjuring a new weapon, a massive diamond flail. He swung slightly off balance and careened past his opponent, his momentum carrying him over towards the edge of the arena, where Barbarica finished the match by slamming her club into Rhames' side, knocking him off the octagonal ring and into the sand below.

"And that is the match. Rhames of Team MRJJ is out. Victory to Barbarica of Team BGBG.", Westwich announced, sounding disappointed. "The next and final match will begin in a half-hour."

Rhames spat out a mouthful of sand from where he'd landed. He looked upwards toward the floating platform as the vulgar blonde barbarian made vague sexual poses with her club, mocking him. In rage, he conjured up a massive bastard sword and pointed it towards the platform, letting out a cry of both frustration and anger. "YOOOUUUUU!" he screamed before collapsing head-first into the dirt again.

Back in the lounge, the rest of Team MRJJ mocked their overly confident teammate.

"You fell! You just fell off the platform!"

"I slipped, I tried to use tactics _you_ should've learned by doing them in the first place!"

"-Awk- You just faffed about like a mingey ponce!"

"You frakking suck, Rhames! Use your own frakking weapons!"

The four bickered loudly in the corner watching the replay of the match. Athena just stared at them again. _How exactly do they ever get anything done again? They just argue and fight each-other._ Caroline Taxus cracked her knuckles and patted Athena on the back. "It'll be fast and painless, Athena. I promise.", she said condescendingly before walking to the staging area. Caroline was the best of the best from Atlas, a future super-soldier in their military when she'd eventually graduate. Unfortunately, she'd have to drag her younger half-brother Lenny around for a while, Jack had explained that Leonardo Crutch and Allison Taxus had married after a long storied military career; Lenny was really pathetic, without real skill and Caroline was the real hero. Jack couldn't really imagine a worse combination than being stuck on a team with a total idiot for four years straight. _If only he knew how it was when we started_, Athena mused to herself. Athena sighed and walked toward the staging area, might as well get this over with.

Athena stood in the octagon, across from her, a similarly dressed Atlesian soldier stood at the ready. Caroline had long turquoise hair and wore a set of teal Atlas battle armor. The Atlas soldier cracked her knuckles loudly and prepared for combat. Athena stood ready with her sword and shield, it didn't appear that Caroline had any weapons.

Taxus attacked first, she launched forward with reverse-firing shotgun blasts propelling her fists towards the maroon-haired gladiator. Athena bent back, avoiding the first punch, and dodge-flipped sideways to avoid the second one. Athena landed on one foot and spun, roundhouse kicking the teal soldier in the face. She threw her shield out with her semblance, slamming the solider in the side, knocking her away. Catching her shield again, Athena threw it out a second time, Caroline dodging this attempt reverse somersaulting out of its arc. Athena grabbed the shield again reversing it's travel and struck the super-soldier in the back, knocking her to the ground face first. Caroline jumped back up, now closer to Athena and attacked in a flurry of blows which Athena blocked with her sword, deflecting every punch. Caroline double punched Athena's sword and kicked off from it, landing several feet away, she quickly swapped her gauntlets into front-firing mode and let of a hail of rifle bullets aimed for the maroon-haired gladiator, each blast pushing the soldier towards the edge of the arena.

Athena noticed this and tried another blow with her shield, which Caroline jumped over, flipping off the flat face of the shield and delivering a strong blow to Athena's skull. The impact sent the gladiator reeling.

"Oh ho! It appears that both combatants are at 20 percent Aura! It will be a close match!", Stout shouted.

Upon hearing the announcer, Caroline used her gauntlets in both modes, spinning fast to attempt another bludgeoning shot at Athena while she was recovering from the hit. Athena realized what was about to happen and flattened herself to the ground, the soldier flying over her. She slipped her shield out just in time to catch the soldier's boot as she spun past, tripping the Atlesian. Athena quickly sheathed her sword and sprang up grabbing the ankle of the soldier and pulling her back into the air. In a single motion, Athena rammed her shield into her opponent's chestplate, slamming the turquoise-haired soldier into the ground head first. Caroline lay embedded in the arena floor, eyes wide open and motionless.

"Another astonishing victory. Athena wins the Vytal Festival Tournament for Vacuo. Hooray." Westwich announced apathetically again. Athena posed proudly, brandishing her sword and shield, beating out a tune with them for the crowd. Cheers filled her ears. It was perfect. As the festival ended, trophies were handed out. Athena collected her Vytal Festival banner and trophy and headed back to the Academy to celebrate with her team.

**Shade Academy, Dorms, Night**

Back in the dorm, Athena hung her new Vytal Festival Victory banner above her bunk and placed the trophy on the shelf across from it. Athena's scroll chimed every few minutes, her sponsors back in Mistral were sending new offers for even more sponsor benefits, clothing lines, action figures, weapon editions, she was about to double check her Scroll's notifications when Team MRJJ barged into their dorm. They had brought champagne and wine for the younger team's victory celebration. The rival team had removed their armor and were wearing normal clothing, Rhames with a limited-edition Pumpkin Pete T-shirt, Jacques in a blue hoodie, Javelin in a People-Like-Grapes soda jacket and Minstrel in a movie themed t-shirt portraying Team LAZR 4. Team MRJJ handed out several dainty glasses and poured the drinks for everyone while Catherine turned on some upbeat pop music from Vale.

"...I just don't really know how you manage to deal with it. You just argue nonstop.", Athena said referring to MRJJ

"Ehh, well It's a competition, we all get a little salty during competitions.", Rhames said

"-Awwk- We really are good in combat. We've never failed a mission yet!", Javelin squawked.

"It's pretty much, send in the meat-shield/distraction first and then flank. Rhames is bloodthirsty, but he _knows_ how to fight. Jacques is strong, Javelin has keen eyesight because he's a bird. We all have our strengths, but we _do_ like to make fun of each-other when shit hits the fan. We're all friends and friends look out for each-other.", Minstrel explained.

"Oh, so did you hear? Another girl from Mistral starts at Beacon next year. She's just like you, too with similar armor and weapons and stuff. It seems like all the cool Huntsmen come from Mistral.", Jacques noted.

"I've heard, yeah. She's probably from the same town as me too. Well, good luck to her. She's going to have to really try hard to overcome what I've done...", Athena said, remembering Cat's mention of a _Pyrrha_ girl earlier.

"Vytal Festival victories, 6 times Fighter's Tournament wins, Cereal mascot..." she trailed off.

"She's already sponsored by Pumpkin Pete.", Jacques stated

"Pumpkin Pete is a sugar-filled blend of muck for children. Captain Fluff is what _adults_ eat for breakfast.", Athena said defensively.

"Fluff's Blueberry Delight didn't have enough _blueberries_.", Rhames added, the huge man rather inebriated and slouched against the wall nearby. Minstrel and Javelin had broken out a game of Remnant, pulling Khor and Cat into the fray ignoring the drama. Jack hadn't returned from the restroom yet.

"Well, I'm not even from the mainland. I'm from Patch. I've only ever dreamed about being a famous hunter like you.", Jacques slurred, obviously enamored by the maroon-haired gladiator. Athena couldn't really imagine an 8ft man walking around and not being considered a future Huntsman. What would he do? Would he be a farmer? Maybe a shopkeeper? Builder? She wanted to facepalm, but instead adjusted her circlet slightly. "Well, I'm sure you'll be great in your own way, Jacques."

It was at that moment that Jack burst back into the room, his restroom break taking more than a half-hour.

"Eugh, Team MRJJ, really? You brought wine? Well, I brought the good stuff!", Jack announced, pulling out several bottles of Vacuo's finest liquor and a few shot glasses. Athena facepalmed hard. Well, it was in good fun right? It was the weekend and she _won _the Vytal Festival. What better way to celebrate.

Athena didn't have too much to drink. She wasn't a drinker and didn't enjoy being inebriated. Team MRJJ drank enough to kill an Ursa Major and the rest of her team eventually passed out from either alcohol consumption or sheer tiredness. She left the pile of 3rd year huntsmen in the corner where they'd passed out, tucked Jack into his own bed and laid down in her own. Tomorrow was another day.

* * *

**Chapter End. If this gets any views, I'll make some kind of effort in writing new chapters for this. This was a semi-serious attempt at merging RWBY and Borderlands 2; It was written a good six or so months before The Ballad of Pyrrha Nikos and many of my re-usable OC's came from here. Enjoy.**


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